“I request all exporters to send their proposals to MOC at the earliest. Bilateral trade with Afghanistan has to be placed on a sustainable growth path,” he added.
"This will hopefully be the encouraging beginning of our trans-shipment policy and will increase Gwadar Port operations. I wish to appreciate Pakistan Customs in making the first trial run successful,” he added.
Talking about the impact of COVID-19 outbreak, the advisor said that the government had taken into account the coronavirus factor in the new policy and will make changes accordingly with the arrival of vaccine.
Back in May, Pakistani pharmaceutical company Ferozsons Laboratories reached an agreement with Gilead Science Inc for the manufacture and sale of Remdesivir in the country.
The upcoming meeting comes at the backdrop of a meeting held in August 2020 on the 3-year Tariff Road Map, in which the Commerce Ministry had decided to start deliberations on long-term tariff policy for all sectors like plastics, engineering, pharmaceuticals, textiles, etc.
“It was a long standing demand of our industry that our energy tariff be made competitive in order to reduce their cost of doing business. This demand has now been met,” said Dawood in a tweet post on Wednesday.
“This is despite the contraction in our major markets due to COVID-19 and the uncertainty created by the recent resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
The advisor said that as the world returning to lockdowns, amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, the demand for Pakistan’s exports may also be affected.
The adviser said this while chairing the 4th meeting of the Steering Committee on Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative (PRMI), in the Board of Investment (BOI).
The Committee was informed that Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA) was established to monitor the effective implementation of the agreement.
Dawood was of the view that in the future, Income Tax and Sales Tax refunds will also be fully automated to create a hassle-free facilitative environment for the exporters.
The advisor urged the exporters that besides executing current orders, they should pursue more orders from existing markets and reach out to untapped markets.
The advisor said that female entrepreneurs should approach the central bank for their business financing needs, as SBP has a scheme specifically for this purpose.
The agreement would be a landmark in the industrial cooperation under the second phase of CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor), he said in his twitter account.